April 2024 ESMC Newsletter

Aligning and Integrating Corporate Nature, Water and Carbon Impacts: ESMC Partners with Reuters Events for Upcoming May 17 Webinar

Major food companies globally are squaring up to the reality of their Scope 3 or supply chain climate change commitments. For these companies to quantify – and therefore reduce – their emissions from suppliers, they typically need to work with thousands of small producers in complex and highly fragmented supply chains.

This is where MMRV – measurement, monitoring, reporting and verification – comes in. MMRV systems and platforms which meet common global accounting and reporting standards can serve companies to help track the success of interventions and investments they make and meet public commitments.

In a May 17 webinar, ESMC’s Executive Director Debbie Reed will be joined by Jay Watson, Regenerative Agriculture Director from General Mills (and ESMC Board member) and Mark Eastham, Sustainable Products Lead, Ahold Delhaize USA, to discuss the future of MMRV and Scope 3 interventions in agriculture, including around including impacts such as biodiversity and water in addition to carbon. The panelists will discuss learnings from the past five years in driving CPG/Retail programs and will propose solutions to reduce the complexity of data gathering and processing and bring more actors to the table.

ESMC Welcomes Travis Breihan

We are pleased to announce that Travis Breihan has joined ESMC as the Director of Business Development. Travis joined ESMC to help build dynamic partnerships across the food system that will drive decarbonization and boost ecological resilience. He comes from a decade plus working in food system start-ups building CPG brands, managing farms, and creating environmentally conscious supply chains. He has led multiple B Corp certifications, managed ESG initiatives and is currently a graduate researcher at University of Texas’ LBJ School of Public Affairs focusing on climate adaptation in the food system and environmental economics.

Travis is dedicated to a ‘farmer first’ approach to climate action and believes strongly in Payment for Ecosystem Services as a critical path to enhance farmer livelihoods while accelerating decarbonization and restoring biodiversity. As a former chef and avid cook, he is also a firm believer in good tasting, high quality ingredients as key to ‘making climate action delicious and fun’.

“I’m thrilled to help ESMC build creative partnerships across the food system that improve soil health, water, biodiversity and farm resilience. I sincerely believe that payments for ecosystem services is the rightful way society can properly support and thank farmers for their stewardship of the land and food system. Ecosystem Service Markets are the way!”

ESMC Is Hiring for Two Positions: A Project Manager for Grazing and Livestock Systems as well as a Protocol and Standards Manager

If you or someone you know would like to join our team, ESMC has two open positions for a Project Manager for Grazing and Livestock Systems as well as a Protocols and Standards Manager. We encourage you to apply or circulate to potentially interested parties. Find more information and application details for these two positions on our website.

Look for ESMC At…

Midwest Farm Energy Conference
June 26 – 27; Morris, MN
The 2024 Midwest Farm Energy Conference theme this year is “Pathways to Decarbonizing Agriculture”. The event will cover topics such as electrifying the farm, utility transmission, ammonia as a farm fuel, E-Fuels, reducing methane emissions and agrivoltaics. ESMC’s Project Manager, Laura Shutack, will present on Eco-Harvest projects in the Midwest. Learn more and register.

Soil and Water Conservation Society (SWCS) Annual Meeting
July 21 – 24; Myrtle Beach, SC
This year’s conference theme, “Rising Together: Collaborative Conservation for All,” challenges all conservationists to rise to the great challenges and opportunities ahead of us, together. At this year’s event, the event will share successes and embrace lessons learned to move toward natural resource goals with greater speed, efficiency, effectiveness, and inclusivity. SWCS will navigate the capacity, innovation, and partnerships needed to regenerate our land, water, and other natural resources. ESMC’s Project Manager, Laura Shutack, will present on Lessons Learned from Four Years of Eco-Harvest Projects. Learn more and register.

ESMC Member and Funder News

Register for the Growing our Future: Action Sprint Workshop
ESMC Legacy Partner member, Forum for the Future, is holding a one-day, in-person Growing our Future workshop on May 31 from 9am – 3pm in Minneapolis, MN. Prospective attendees are invited to fill out an expression of interest form.

This system-wide gathering will include changemakers in the food and agriculture systems – private sector, nonprofit, philanthropic and policy actors, producers, community-based organizations and grassroots coalitions – stakeholders with a passion for cultivating a just transition to regenerative systems. The gathering will include a collaborative design sprint to devise deeper plans of action for the initiative’s workstreams, as well as dig into planning for regional, sector-specific, and landscape-level activations. The workshop will follow the Innovation Forum Future of Food and Beverage Summit on May 29-30. Attendance at the Summit is not required.

APHIS Bolsters Animal Disease Traceability in the United States
USDA (April 26)
The United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is putting in place the technology, tools, and processes to help quickly pinpoint and respond to costly foreign animal diseases by amending and strengthening its animal disease traceability regulations for certain cattle and bison. ESMC submitted comments to the USDA on this topic in October 2023. The USDA is an ESMC funder. Read the full announcement.

General Mills Stands for People and Planet in 2024 Global Responsibility Report
General Mills (April 18)
General Mills, an ESMC Founding Circle member, recently released its 2024 Global Responsibility Report, detailing progress the company made across three priority areas – Planet, People and Food – during its 2023 fiscal year, June 1, 2022, through May 28, 2023. The report marks General Mills’ 54th year of reporting on its environmental and social impact, reinforces the company’s commitment to transparency, and features how General Mills is Standing for Good, a pillar of its Accelerate business strategy. Read the full announcement. General Mills’s work with ESMC is highlighted on page 47 of the report.

Conservation Innovation Fund and AGgrow Tech Announce $1.4 Million Contract with Maryland Department of the Environment for Quantified Nutrient Reduction Initiative
Conservation Innovation Fund (April 17)
Conservation Innovation Fund, a non-profit blended finance fund focused on conservation and sustainability (and ESMC Legacy Partner member), and AGgrow Tech, announced a $1.4 million pay-for-performance contract from the Maryland Department of the Environment to reduce nutrient runoff to the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. On April 4, the Maryland Board of Public Works unanimously approved the project as its first under the novel Clean Water Commerce Account Program that uses a pay-for-performance approach to drive reductions in nutrients that impair water bodies. The initiative enables participating Maryland farmers to expand regenerative farming practices that produce conservation benefits alongside a high-quality bedding product for Maryland’s poultry industry. Read the full announcement.

The Economics of Soil Health on Small Grain Farms
Soil Health Institute (April 2)
The Soil Health Institute (SHI) (an ESMC Legacy Partner member), in partnership with General Mills (an ESMC Founding Circle member), interviewed 15 small grain farmers in the U.S. and Canada to examine the economic and on-farm benefits they experienced, aiming to provide essential economic information to support informed decision-making among small grain growers in both countries. SHI conducted partial budget analysis to evaluate the economic impacts of soil health management system adoption on 10 wheat farms in Kansas and North Dakota, and five small grain farms in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Ontario, Canada. This approach compares costs and benefits before and after soil health management system implementation. Read the full article.

Other News of Note

What Is Regenerative Agriculture? Farmers, Experts Share the Keys to Biodiversity
ABC News (April 26)
Farmers are stewards of everything from soil and the crops that pop out of it to the microbes teeming with life underneath the surface, which together creates a biodiverse environment that enriches and renews the land for generations to come. Culinary and agriculture power couple Matthew and Tia Raiford, along with Matthew’s sister Althea Raiford Billingsley, are shining examples of how to work with the environment rather than against it at their inherited 50-acre farm along the coast of Brunswick, Georgia. Read the full article.

Beyond Greenwashing: 5 Key Strategies for Genuine Sustainability in Agriculture
World Economic Forum (April 24)
As the world awaits the usual lofty promises from the annual UN climate change conference, set to take place later this year in Baku, Azerbaijan (COP29), the urgent task is to cut through the rhetoric and separate the true sustainability champions from those just paying lip service. Conventional agriculture no longer cuts it. Research consistently exposes that it contributes to at least a quarter of greenhouse gas emissions, consumes 70% of freshwater and drives 80% of tropical deforestation. Meanwhile, around 80% of the poorest populations live in rural areas and depend on farming to make a living. Read the full article.

5 Ways to Invest in the Stewards of Our Soil & Why It’s a No Brainer
Regenerative Food Systems Investment (April 23)
The agriculture system is unique because it is deeply intertwined with so many other systems – food, finance, climate, policy – and at each level of society: local, regional, national and global. As a result, the way we operate agricultural systems can have unintended consequences far beyond the system itself. The global industrial food system, built over the past 5+ decades is a prime example of this. It starts with the soil on the farm, but the implications reach far beyond. Read the full article.

Seeds From Wild Crop Relatives Could Help Agriculture Weather Climate Change
Civil Eats (April 22)
The hardy wild cousins of domesticated crops can teach us how to adapt to a hotter, more unpredictable future. Read the full article.

Regenerating Fashion’s Supply Chain
Vogue Business (April 5)
Nespresso’s advancements in regenerative agriculture could serve as a blueprint for the fashion industry — here’s how. Read the full article.